Manual assembly line operator scheduling using hierarchical preference aggregation

Successful companies are the ones that can compete in the global market by embracing technological advancements, employing the lean principles, maximizing resource utilizations without sacrificing customer satisfaction. Lean principles are widely applied in semi or fully automated production processes. This research highlights the application of the lean principles to manual assembly processes, where the operator characteristics are considered as deterministic of operator schedule. In this study, a manual circuit breaker assembly line is examined, where operator skill levels, attention spans, classified as reliability measures considered to select the most suitable resource allocation and break schedules. The effect of operator attributes on the process is modeled and simulated using Arena, followed by a hierarchical preference aggregation technique as the decision making tool. This paper provides an operator schedule selection approach which can be both employed in manual and semi - automated production processes.